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Record-breaking rainfall from the tropical storm Imelda is soaking southeastern Texas. Some areas have been swamped with 20 to 42 inches (51 to 107 centimeters) of rain over just three days, causing catastrophic flooding that is among the worst in U.S. history. Imelda, the first named storm to strike this part of Texas since 2017's devastating Hurricane Harvey, is currently the fifth-wettest tropical storm to drench the contiguous U.S., The Weather Channel tweeted today (Sept. 19). Storms that drop this much rain are estimated to appear once in a millennium, according to precipitation models created by the National Oceanic and...

Chicago "avoided tragedy" on Monday afternoon after police officers arrested a man who opened fire at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center on the city's West Side, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Sallet said. According to a spokesperson at the hospital, located at 820 S. Damen Ave., staff were told to shelter in place at around 2:18 p.m. The suspect, who was armed with an assault rifle, shot at the building initially, and then went inside the hospital, police said at a press conference. Authorities said the suspect fired both inside and outside but declined to answer just how...

Talk show host and comedian Steve Harvey referred to the Golden State Warriors as “gorilla’s,” on ESPN’s NBA Finals pre-game show. During an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Harvey was asked if there was anything his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers could do to derail Golden State? Harvey responded by saying that there wasn’t, because they had “800-pound gorilla’s” on their team: The caption of the video asks Outkick the Coverage’s Clay Travis whether Harvey’s comments constitute a Doug Adler situation. Adler, who is white, was part of ESPN’s coverage of the Australian Open in 2017. During coverage of the match...

The departure of national security adviser H.R. McMaster and his replacement by former U.N. ambassador John Bolton are both significant and welcome. Bolton will be a team player on Team Trump and not someone with his own agenda who seeks the advice and counsel of those trying to undermine the Trump administration. Leaks such as the one of the memo warning President Trump not to congratulate Vladimir Putin on Putin's re-election will undoubtedly stop, as McMaster and his staff were viewed as the source for many of them.

Harvey. Illinois is in the midst of a financial crisis that represents the tip of the iceberg ... The city of 25,000 in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago is suffering from high unemployment (22%). An astonishing 32% of the population lives below the poverty level. This is a deadly mixture that has caused catastrophic shortfalls in revenue, leading to a crisis in funding pensions for the city's retired workers. Since state law prohibits municipal bankruptcy, Harvey has been forced into a situation Illinois has never seen. In February, the state began to garnish Harvey's revenue to fund its pension...

A robe-swaddled Harvey Weinstein statue, sitting arms spread on a golden chaise lounge urging pedestrians to sit beside him, appeared in Hollywood on Thursday days before the 90th Academy Awards ceremony. The sculpture, located on Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, is a collaboration between street artists Plastic Jesus, best known for his annual Oscar season installations that take aim at the dark side of show business, and Joshua "Ginger" Monroe, the artist behind the infamous naked Donald Trump statues. The piece was intentionally crafted to allow passers-by to sit beside Weinstein and take photos with him. Clenched in Weinstein's...

HUMBLE, TX — The traffic in Kingwood is already an issue, but it's about to become more frustrating as crew prepare to shut down parts of the Interstate 69 bridge that spans the San Jacinto River, just south of Kingwood. The Texas Department of Transportation announced this week that they will close the southbound lanes of I-69 over the river at the end of this month to repair damages caused during flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The construction is expected to continue through the start of summer, and the start of the 2018 hurricane season, which begins in June. Humble, Kingwood...

Three hundred Hollywood women have launched a new group to tackle sexual harrasment following revelations in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The “Time’s Up” campaign group has received the backing of actors including Reese Witherspoon, Eva Longoria, Emma Stone and Natalie Portman as well as executives and writers. There will be a $13million legal fund for those less privileged who are affected by sexual misconduct to take legal action. The group took out a full page advert in The New York Times and the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion launching the group. “The struggle for women to break in,...

Applicants for Hurricane Harvey relief grants for the storm-battered city of Dickinson are asked as part of the terms of the agreement to not boycott Israel, a move the ACLU has called unconstitutional. The city began accepting applications Oct. 11 for grants to rebuild homes or businesses damaged in the storm that made landfall Aug. 25. The grant money was donated to the Dickinson Harvey Relief Fund. ...In January 2016, Gov. Greg Abbott met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and said that he wanted legislators to work to approve such a ban. When he signed the bill...

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) — Jefferson County, Texas, was drowned by more than 60 inches of rain during Hurricane Harvey, which left wide swaths of the county in ruins. Last November, Jefferson flipped from voting Democratic in presidential elections to instead back Donald Trump, who has dismissed the concept of climate change as a hoax and has worked to undo regulations meant to mitigate its damage. Scientists say climate change doesn’t cause hurricanes but that warming and rising seas supercharge those already forming. Some who lost everything in Harvey’s floodwaters say they’re starting to take the threat of climate change...

NEWS LINE October 15, 2017 They’re All In It Together – Weinstein Paid for Bill Clinton’s Legal Fees During His Sex Abuse Scandal by USJ Staff 0 comments 22 When Bill Clinton was at the height of the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, Hollywood was by his side, offering donations for his legal fees, and one significant donor was a man who is now going through his own sex scandal—Harvey Weinstein. More than 20 women have publicly accused Weinstein of sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape. After the New York Times and the New Yorker published in-depth stories detailing the testimonies...

Harvey Weinstein has not suffered enough, former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking publicly about the growing number of women claiming to have been sexually harassed or assaulted by the mega Hollywood producer and big Dem donor. RelatedShowtime Will Not Proceed With 'Guantanamo' Series If The Weinstein Company Is Involved “It is my hope there are more consequences. It is my hope the statute hasn’t run on some [allegations], because this man deserves more than losing his company,” Biden told a crowd at Rutgers University on Thursday. The previous night, Biden had made his first public remarks about Weinstein at the...

wo years and six months ago, the Manhattan district attorney had an opportunity to charge Harvey Weinstein with a sex crime. On Tuesday, reports by the New Yorker and the Daily Beast detailed the series of events that led to this opportunity—and what happened after Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office decided not to pursue it. That decision is now under scrutiny, as is Vance’s credibility as an elected official. “I’m not impressed by the decision to not go forward here,” said Matthew Galluzzo, who spent several years with the Sex Crimes Unit in the Manhattan DA’s office. “They’d prosecute 9 people...

HOUSTON -- Good news for drivers heading into Monday morning: Sam Houston Tollway's main lanes are now fully open in both directions. That means tens of thousands of commuters can now get back to their regular routes. But with the good news comes some bad news: Harris County Tolls will start up again Tuesday at 4 a.m. on all toll roads except for the section of Sam Houston Tollway between Highway 59 and Highway 290. Tolls will be waived because some feeder roads are still closed. Fort Bend County Tolls resume Monday. The toll way opening is a few days...

WASHINGTON — President Trump flew by helicopter Sunday afternoon to Jersey City to watch the Presidents Cup golf tournament, where he presented the trophy to the winner. In Mr. Trump’s mind, that is something he knows about: winning. In fact, he would argue, he was winning all weekend.Never mind that opponents, independent analysts and even some of his own advisers winced at his latest outbursts. Whether it was blasting the mayor of San Juan, P.R., or excoriating kneeling football players or undercutting his own secretary of state, Mr. Trump was convinced that he was putting points on the board, according...

Pope Francis has warned history will judge world leaders who do not act as he blasted climate change sceptics in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. The pontiff said the recent storms meant the effects of climate change could be seen "with your own eyes". There have been four major Atlantic hurricanes in less than three weeks. But US Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt said it was an inappropriate time to discuss what role climate change may have played. Mr Pruitt - who has previously said he "would not agree" carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global...

Whole Woman’s Health, a reproductive health care organization, in collaboration with other groups, is offering free abortions to women affected by Hurricane Harvey. At least 74 women have already taken the organization up on the offer, or have scheduled an appointment for the procedure, the Dallas Morning News reported. The price will be fully covered, as will the cost of transportation and accommodations, the group said. But Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, argued against the notion of a free abortion, claiming that "there is always a cost.

Some of my reports from Washington might be different from what you generally hear in the national media, so here it goes! President Donald Trump has been doing very well. I didn’t vote for him, but I have to give him a lot of credit for his accomplishments over the last few weeks. Here are just a few: 1. Public administration experts are acknowledging that Trump has done a superb job of managing the hurricanes and other natural disasters we are experiencing. He sent his entire Cabinet out into the field. The president himself visited flood areas but kept out...

The northbound lanes of a main section of the West Sam Houston Tollway/Beltway 8, which were flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey, were reopened Sept. 7 after pumping out standing water, but the southbound lanes likely won’t open until the middle of this week, according to the Harris County Toll Road Authority in Houston. The authority reported Sept. 7 that the tollway section from Westheimer to Interstate 10 was a lake, with 14 feet of water, when pumps arrived. By then, the water had finally receded enough for the authority and the Texas Department of Transportation to start pumping out the...

Faith-based groups — Christian nonprofits, specifically — have been busy bees of late, providing more aid to hurricane victims than even FEMA,.. Look at this, from the Daily Caller: “Faith-based relief groups are responsible for providing nearly 80 percent of the aid delivered thus far to communities with homes devastated by the recent hurricanes.” ...USA Today, which ran a headline: “Faith groups provide the bulk of disaster recovery, in coordination with FEMA.”... Samaritan’s Purse, the Rev. Franklin Graham’s organization, brought everything from food to chainsaws. Post-storm, the same group will help victims rebuild their homes.